The Yamada brothers donated land to the school district in 1971, but they told KCRA 3 on Wednesday that the school district is not holding up its end of the deal.

The land once held Delta Island Elementary, but the school has been closed for six years.

It was the school district that asked the brothers to donate their 8 acres back in 1971.

Attorney Todd Fujinaga said the Yamada brothers were intimidated, so they paid off a loan for the land and made the donation. However, a stipulation was put into place in the gift deed, that if the district no longer used the land for a school, the land would be returned to the family.

“To me, (it was) very clear, easy and simple," Fujinaga said.

The school closed in 2009. The district said then it would return the land.

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However, Fujinaga said, once the district learned the Yamada brothers were considering leasing the land to the New Jerusalem School District to build a charter school, Tracy Unified stalled.

Charter schools receive state money for each student, meaning the Tracy Unified district could lose money.

“This is disrespectful to Japanese people, disrespectful to the farming community and disrespectful to older people," Fujinaga said.

The Tracy Unified superintendent said the district cannot comment because of the pending litigation.